The Looming Deadline For The NAC

I have been keeping regular track of the work around the National Arts Centre while the glass enclosure has been added onto the building, and you can find the last post here. This first shot dates to April 8th, when I was coming up to the National War Memorial near sundown to attend the Vimy Ridge Centennial evening vigil. I paused to photograph the NAC, since I rarely photograph it at dusk.

These I took a few days ago, first from the Mackenzie King Bridge looking north to the NAC and Parliament Hill. The others were taken from the north side, moving from Plaza Bridge down to near the Canal. While the glass panels are in place and most of the work is now happening inside, one glass panel has yet to be added on the west side, with wood screens in its place. This is likely for work crews, who may require equipment to be forklifted into the upper parts of the work site.

Architecture And A Place Of Healing

The Wabano Centre For Aboriginal Health can be found in Vanier. The organization was established in 1998, and provides medical, social, and youth services for the more than forty thousand Indigenous people in the Ottawa area. It incorporates cultures and traditions of the First Nations in its operations, and has been based since 2013 in this twenty five thousand square foot complex. The building was designed by Canadian First Nations architect Douglas Cardinal, who happens to live in the Ottawa area. The elegant, graceful curves of the glass and structure reflect his style and heritage. Mr. Cardinal's previous architectural masterpieces include the Canadian Museum Of History here and the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington.

Three Churches In Vanier

In the latter part of March I paid a visit to the Vanier area. A number of small nineteenth century communities were incorporated into the town of Eastview over a century ago, and by 1963 it had grown to city status. In 1969 it was renamed in honour of Georges Vanier, the recently deceased Governor General. Vanier, which has a strong French speaking population, was amalgamated into Ottawa with the rest of the Region of Ottawa-Carleton back in 2001, and today is referred to as the Quartier Vanier. I took a number of photographs while here, including a pair I featured earlier this month from the Rideau River. Four buildings in particular caught my eye on this visit, and I'm featuring three of them today, and the fourth tomorrow. The first is St. Margaret's Anglican Church. Built in 1887 in the Gothic style, this little church was a country parish at the time. It's now surrounded by an urban environment, and is one of the oldest buildings in Vanier.

A short walk away is Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Catholic church. The parish was founded in 1930, and the current building was finished in 1940.

And the third is just down the street from Assumption. It is Eastview Baptist Church. The congregation's origins date back to the 1870s, and this church building dates to the 1920s.

A Canadian Road Show

Today I'm finishing the hockey fan event that took place back in March at Lansdowne. I mentioned the mobile museum of hockey memorabilia in yesterday's post. It was all contained in an expandable truck trailer, and this was one end, covered with the logos of current (and one future) NHL teams.

There were also activities outside Aberdeen Pavilion, with displays, music, and another floor hockey game set up. There was a photo booth of sorts set up as well, something that sent a series of photos edited into a gif to your email. Some of you have probably already seen mine at Facebook, but I've added it into that Youtube link. I look thoroughly disreputable.

One of the displays had a number of Playmobil style NHL figures set up. These were all about three feet tall- a good deal bigger than the toys usually are.

And for whatever reason, this nefarious looking fellow was overseeing a game of floor hockey too.

The Greats Of A Game

Back on the 18th and 19th of March, there was a weekend event at Lansdowne Park for hockey fans. I paid a visit on the afternoon of the 19th. The National Hockey League was part of the whole affair, with the Stanley Cup set up for people to have their photos done in its presence. There was a long line up for that when I passed through the Aberdeen Pavilion, which was hosting part of the occasion. This was actually my second time in two days that I'd been close to the Cup- check this post from earlier in April if you missed it. Lots of Canadians love the game; if this year's final features an all-Canadian match-up, it would both please many fans while blowing the last gasket in what passes for a brain of that bloody prat NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman. That's a win-win either way. Well, not so much for Bettman, but we've already established he's a bloody prat.

There was a floor hockey game going on inside too.

A large video screen was set up, showing hockey action. Legends of the game were portrayed to either side of the screen.

There was a mobile museum as part of the weekend, showing items from past and present players of the game, such as these old fashioned skates.

The evolution of hockey goalie masks over the decades caught my eye.

As did these jerseys. One of them is an all star jersey from times past, while another would have been worn by a ref. But the rest of them are for teams that have come and gone through the history of professional hockey- the Colorado Rockies, the California Golden Seals, the Cleveland Barons, Montreal Maroons, New York Americans, St. Louis Eagles, and Philadelphia Quakers.

I have more from this event tomorrow, but I'll leave off with this interior view of the Pavilion and the activities that were going on.

Springtime Rises Up

I wanted a clear day for a more recent update from Major's Hill Park and Nepean Point, but on Easter Sunday, when I was downtown, something caught my eye. There was a very low lying fog on the Ottawa River, something that seemed to make the Gatineau shore seem to be floating above a cloud deck.

Colonel By seemed rather gloomy under the conditions. Most of the snow had been gone by this point, though there were the odd piles in shady spots, particularly on the slopes of Parliament Hill.

Coming up to Champlain's statue at the top of Nepean Point, the views around Ottawa and Gatineau were quite different from a sunny day. The effect looking east, towards the Macdonald Cartier Bridge, had the same effect of looking as if the bridge was floating in the clouds.

All in all, a very different mood from yesterday's post, but the fog made it irresistible.